, 1887-11-29
HINTS ABOUT DIAMONDS.

Vaiue-A Brokers' Story.
"Do you know anything about dia-
monds?"
NO.
81 am surprised at the admission.
Nearly every mar thinks he is posted. 1t
usually falls to the lot of the common
individual to buy diamonds, more or less,
in the course of his career, and in that
experience to gather more misinforma.
ton than is disseminated on any other
subject. Some of the transformation is
scattered purposely, but much of it igno-
rantly. 1t is a part of a jewelers. bust
ness to talk well. Consequently when
ever he stands behind his counter and a
customer steps in front of it he feels it
his duty to fill the customers head with
pleasant impressions about the goods of
fered. OF course that is business. 1 do
not say that there is more willful misrep-
resentation about diamonds than about
any other goods, but l do say that the Or
dnlary jeweler is a mighty poor judge of
the value of diamonds"
Thus spoke an importer to a friend the
other day.
There is only one class of men," the
proprietor continued, whom the trade
fully trust, and they are the brokers. A
trNiNaS-a 'ApAh - NV hlGIGl1 u Dldn VII
sells, but one who can sort and appraise.
Practice is of course necessary in this
work. but n man must be gifted in that
direction if he ever hopes for success. In
New York there are not ten men whose
Judgment about n paper of diamonds is
conclusive. The trade on both sides
thai II, the importer On one side and the
manufacturer or retailer on the other
rely on these men. An importer does
not sell to jewellers directly, but always
through the broker. When the stones
arrive the broker sorts them and COM
pares them with the invoice. That be-
Ing correct, the broker puts the packages
in his pocket and goes out to visit the
trade. He usually returns with a more
bulky package than he takes out, the
stones having been exchanged for checks, :
note. or bills.
'There is a broker now in the other
room preparing to go out. We send for
him whenever we receive an invoice. He
gets / per cent. on his sales, and he is
now so well known in the business that
for working three or four hours a day
three or four days in the" week he can
earn about So, 900 a year. He adds to
chat income by appraisement and other
expert labor during his leisure. Rarely
has he left this office with less than S15,-
600 worth of diamonds in his inside
pocket, and he has carried $50, 900 worth
at n time. We never dream of asking
security from him, and in all his dealings
every stone has been accounted for. Ere
quently he accommodates friends at the
prices which he asks of jewellers. He
may be useful to you and you can rely
on what he says"
The broker presently appeared ready
for his rounds. Nothing about him sug-
gested his occupation. A ~pickpocket
would have passed him by as no worth
the game. Introductions over, the broker
did some unbuttoning, and drew from
a pocket close to his shirt a morocco
pocketbook of perhaps a dozen COM
partments. Tn compartments were
filled with slips of white paper, which
the broker took out one at a time with
habitual caution. Sone of the packages
contained single stones, and in some
there were matched groups, sparkling as
only diamonds can. Another package
contained an assortment of oblong, amber
colored fragments, which a housewife
would have boiled unhesitatingly if they
had been sent to her for tapioca, They
were uncut diamonds, and worth 81, 500.
The importers friend selected a pair Of
small b~rilliants, although larger ones
were laid before hin for less money.
You have the making of an appraiser
in you,' said the broker. ''Almost any
jeweler would have chosen the larger
pair, failing to see that the smaller ones
are of purcr color and greater %brilliancy.
To the ordinary eye the difference in
quality is not perceptible, except in GER
tain kinds of light, when the differences
plainly apparent. l suppose jewellers
satisfy the demands of customers when
they prefer large stones to small ones of
better quality, for size is vastly overrated
in diamonds. The kind of diamond you
have chosen is worth $3.50 a carat. The
one you rejected is worth $50 a carat,
and that difference would Enthusiastically
appear probably just at the time when
the wearers would least like to nave 1t.
Under good conditions of light the differ
ence would be plain. Yet there are men
in the business-the majority of them, 1
might say-who would rather have
81, 900 worth of large stones at $40 a
carat than double the value in stones
worth 5000 a carat. They can get more
money for the cheaper stones.
There is something about a jewelry
store" the broker continued, ''that
makes goods show better in the eyes of
buyers than they do anywhere else. A
friend of mine wanted a pair of diamonds
for earrings and commissioned me to get
them. 1t was several weeks before l
happened to have a pair that / thought
would suit him. They were worth
81, 500. He admired them, but could
not quite make up his mind that they
wero what he wanted. After thinking
over it for about ten days he decided not
to take them. The next day 1 went into
q large store up town. While showing
my goods to the diamond buyer my
friend entered the store. / was in the
Office, where he could not see me. The
buyer was sent for to wait on my friend,
who wanted to buy some stones that
could be recommended as first class.
IF you haven't anything to suit him.
l said to the buyer, come back to me. 1
think car fit you out
I'm a few minutes he came back. 1
gave him the 81, 500, pair. They filled
my friends eye completely. He bought
them Tor So, 500, and went home de-
1iprhtal fam dave 1ntar ha 10